Daily Tip: How to turn on (or off) multiple text message alerts

Worried you might miss an urgent SMS message and wondering how to set up multiple alerts? Annoyed at the amount of notifications you're getting for texts and trying to figure out how to dial them back a notch or three? No problem, you can do both easily on iPhone and we'll show you how after the break!

Poll: Do you get apps on iPhone, iPad or iTunes desktop?

Once again drawing inspiration from Chad and Rene making fun of me on iPhone Live! we're polling the TiPb nation to find out if you buy or download your apps and games directly on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, or if you prefer getting them via iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC and syncing over, or if you go both ways?

Developer Spotlight: Robert Murray of Firemint

TiPb's developer spotlights are like DVD/iTunes Extras for the App Store -- a weekly look behind the scenes at the programers and designers that bring you the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games you love. This week Rene talks with Robert Murray of Firemint.

What's your name? Robert Murray

What's your company's name? Firemint

Where are you located? Richmond, Victoria, Australia, not too far from Melbourne proper.

What apps do you make? Firemint's two big IPs are Flight Control and Real Racing. Both games are available on iPhone and iPad, and we developed a sequel to Real Racing, Real Racing 2, which was released in December 2010.

Our most recent title is Real Racing 2 HD, optimized for iPad 2. Not long ago we put out an update that adds 1080p dual screen support, so you can sit on the couch and play while the action is displayed on your TV. At the same time, your device shows your lap times, position and speed. It’s quite a sight to behold, and an entirely new way to experience the game.

Agent Squeek is our next massive title, due out this year on iOS. It features a suave cheese-loving mouse who's lively imagination casts him in the role of a secret agent.

New and updated iPhone and iPad apps for Monday, May 16

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

Another Unreal Engine iOS tech demo video released; looks awesome but where are all the games? [video]

Developer Codenrama has released a free tech demo which again shows off the free wandering, graphically stunning Unreal Engine for iOS devices. The demo which is very similar to Epic Citadel, takes you on a stroll through a beautifully detailed and accurately lit 3D setting based on the Italian town of Assisi.

So far we have seen a few tech demos but very few games using the Unreal Engine. Codenrama shed a bit of light on what the problem may be.

While developing Castlerama, we had to face the fact that newer devices such as iPhone4s and iPad2s are very different from their predecessors, iPhone3GSs and iPads, in that the former have twice as much memory. In order to have the app run on all devices, we had to compromise quite a bit, pushing the old devices to their limits (risking crash if other applications are left running) while keeping the new devices well behind their capabilities. In the future we believe we will have to develop two versions for each application.

If this turns out to be the case for other developers too, how many versions of games will have to be released to enable a smooth and enjoyable gaming experience across devices? Will we see a universal binary for iPhone 3GS and first generation iPads and then another for iPhone 4 and iPad 2 devices? What happens when the iPhone 5 arrives with additional spec bumps?

Take a look at the video after the break then pop back and let us know what you think in the comments!

Apple is now offering free service and repairs to iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac computers that were damaged during the recent Japan earthquake and tsunami. The details were revealed in a Support and Information Service note on Apples Japanese website.

It confirms that Apple will offer free repairs of any Macs, Cinema Displays, iPhones, iPads or iPod touches damaged in the disaster. The offer only applies to those directly affected and who live primarily in the municipalities covered in the Disaster Relief Act of 2011.

And the alleged iPhone 5 case leaks begin... [Updated]

We're still probably 4 or 5 months away from an iPhone 5 launch but that hasn't stopped the annual tradition of... case leaks! iPhones are produced in China, iPhone cases are produced in China, Apple won't reveal details of their next generation phones pre-launch, but if the factories get chummy and some information changes hands... Well, the workers might get prosecuted later, but the cases leak now.

If this one is genuine -- and we never know until Apple shows the actual, final iPhone off on stage -- it seems to show the LED flash has been relocated from its iPhone 4 spot beside the camera to the opposite side of the back plate.

Curious.

What do you think, real, fake, or really fake?

UPDATE: Some camera parts have surfaced that seem consistent with the LED Flash position in the case above. Picture after the break. [Apple.pro, thanks everyone!]

UPDATE 2: That's a distorted iPad screen shot used as a place holder. Nothing indicative of iOS 5 there.

iTunes iPad activation servers having trouble?

Last night one of our readers, Kirk, let us know his company was having problems in iTunes activating a large quantity of original iPads. Didn't matter which version of iOS or how often they wiped or restored, iTunes wouldn't activate their iPads. A couple other readers let us know they were having similar problems.

I managed to wipe and restore both my original iPad and an iPod touch 4, but today Kirk and a lot of other folks were still having trouble.

Are you one of them? If you're iOS device won't activate, let us know which device, which version of iOS, and how long you've been having trouble.

And yes, feel free to mock Apple's dependence on iTunes tether to activate all you want.

TiPb Picks of the Week

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

iPhone 4 and the App Store set Guinness World Records

Apple’s iPhone 4 and App Store have both received entries into the Guinness World Records. The iPhone takes the record for the fastest selling portable gaming system and the App Store for the most popular application market.

The iPhone 4 award has been based on analyst estimates of first day sales of 1.5 million units which easily topped the Playstation Portable which managed a meagre 200,000 units. The App Store has achieved three records, grabbing the “most popular application marketplace”, “largest downloadable video game store” and the “largest launch line-up of any gaming system.”